One of Us
by Nausicaa82
Summary: It's a songfic to "One of Us" by Abba. Sort of. It's from Garnet's POV and most of it is the beginning of the game. It didn't turn out how I wanted but oh well. Please R + R. I enjoy knowing how I can improve my work.


Author's Notes: Okay, here goes nothing! I haven't beaten FF9 yet (darn Crystal   
Boss!!!!) but I think I've got a good grip on what happens. I've watched the FMV movies and stuff.  
Just a warning: This is a songfic. And I hate songfics. So I'm trying to make it like a   
songfic but not really. Get it? Got it? Good!  
The song is "One of Us" by ABBA (God, I love them!) I don't own them and I don't own   
FF9 either. BTW, the song lyrics will be in italics.  
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One of Us  
  
"Princess?" The owner of a deep voice rapped gently on the large oaken door leading to Queen Garnet's chambers. Garnet herself was seated on a brocaded divan gazing at the shapes flickering in the roaring fireplace. It seemed to her that she had been staring for hours, searching the flames for some semblance of a recognizable figure. Ignoring the calls for her, Garnet squinted and shook her head after finding that the fire remained as it always was.  
  
"Your highness?" Her summoner knocked on the door once again.   
  
"Come in, Steiner," she beckoned, gently sitting back on the divan. She didn't even turn her head to greet her guest.   
  
"Princess....?" Steiner had grown increasingly worried about his queen in the past year. Ever since he had sacrificed himself for the good of the planet she had grown more passive and forlorn. She was hardly a shadow of her former lively and vivacious self. "Princess, please..."  
  
Garnet turned to face him, her eyes slanted in anger. "Steiner, I am QUEEN now and I'll have you address me by my proper title." She stood and smoothed her white exquisitely brocaded and embroidered dress and moved towards to fireplace, lifting a bellows and blowing it on the fire.  
  
Steiner's eyes were wide in shock. Out of everyone, he had been the one most dedicated to addressing Garnet in the most proper way. And out of all of them, she had been the one most set against it. He frowned and shook his head. She was right, however, it was his duty to address her in an appropriate manner. He bowed, "Of course your majesty. Please forgive my folly."  
  
Garnet knelt down and watched the last dying embers of the fire glow faintly. Without moving, she watched them snuff out. "I can't do this anymore, Steiner," her whispers were barely audible.  
  
The Pluto Knight's face softened. "I'm sorry, your highness?"  
  
Garnet stood and faced him, tears glistening in her eyes. "I....I just can't do this anymore!"  
  
Steiner's eyes widened in shock. Garnet...the QUEEN...was crying! In front of him! 'I should do something...oh, but what?' He attempted to calm her. "Queen Garnet, whatever's bothering you can't be all that bad."  
  
Garnet uncharacteristically wiped her teary face with the sleeve of her dress. "I'm miserable! This..." she gestured to the rooms of the palace. "This just isn't me! I'm nobody! I'm a nobody! I don't deserve this!"  
  
Steiner stepped forward and haltingly embraced her. "You're destined for this, you highness. Your country is out there waiting for you. Now..." he placed his hands on her shoulders. "There's a whole audience out there waiting to see a performance. And they need you to start it. Just try to crack a smile while you're out there."  
  
Garnet turned away from him. "I need some time alone. I'll be out shortly."  
  
"Of course. Take you time, your highness." Steiner bowed and exited the room, closing the door forcibly behind him.  
  
Garnet watched the door close. "You should call me Garnet..." she offered to the empty room.  
  
She moved over to the fireplace and sat gingerly in front of it, wiping her tears. "You just don't understand," she spoke to herself. "It's just this play. I can't watch it...it just reminds me too much of..." she paused before saying the name. "I just can't sit through it."  
  
They passed me by  
All of those great romances  
Because of you  
Robbing me  
Of my rightful chances  
  
Garnet's mind flashed with the memories. She had fallen in love with him at first sight. Before he had even seen her up close.   
  
The play was nothing spectacular. She had seen it numerous times before. Lord Ipsen was, after all, her mother's favorite author. She hadn't been enjoying the show. In fact, she had been daydreaming. About Brahne. Again. Something wasn't quite right with her and Garnet couldn't put her finger on what it could possibly be. Sure, she had never felt anything resembling motherly affection from the woman after the King had died, but she seemed more distant and cold lately. And Garnet wasn't enjoying it. She had been contemplating running away to Lindblum to talk or even live with Cid.  
  
'I'll do it tonight while mother's entranced in the show.' Garnet smiled to herself. She, however, love Brahne. She was, after all, the only family the princess had, but she couldn't be happy with her. And the vibes her mother was giving off lately signaled that the Queen would be much happier with her gone as well. Garnet was well aware of Steiner's curious gaze on her. Her mother, after all, was dancing wildly with the music - a sharp contrast to Garnet's mournful stance. She simply didn't care.  
  
Garnet sighed and leaned back in her chair. By the time intermission was over she would be long gone, having snuck aboard the theatre ship undetectable to anyone. For now all she could was watch the story of the two star-crossed lovers enfold before her eyes. She half-heartedly watched the goings-on onstage. It was finally a brief movement in the right wing of the stage that caught her attention.  
  
Two actors were talking to each other it seemed, one making wild hand gestures. Finally, he pointed directly at her. Or at least it seemed that way. Garnet glanced behind her. Steiner was standing in the doorway and her mother had stopped dancing and sat calmly watching the performance so they couldn't have been watching the fool the queen was making of herself. That left...her.  
  
Garnet chuckled to herself when she realized that the actor who had been pointing had become so wrapped up in his conversation to realize that he had missed his cue to be onstage. He rushed out onto the scene hurriedly and proceeded to take part in the elaborately staged battle. Garnet memorized his features, and blushed as she wondered why he would have gestured to her in such a fevered manner.  
  
'Could it be that....' Garnet threw the thought from her mind. That was preposterous. The chances of him thinking about her that way were utterly ridiculous. The chances of HER thinking about HIM that way were even more ridiculous. She was a princess not a traveling troubadour able to behave as she pleased. She had Steiner to see to that. Why, then, were her eyes attracted to him? Why did her heart flutter when he was attacked, even if it was a staged battle? Why did she have this pressing feeling to want to see him up close, to hear his voice, to let him take her way from here?  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted as the act curtain slowly descended. Her mother laughed and slapped her on the back. "Beautiful show! Wonderful show, isn't it Garnet? GWAHAHA!" Brahne roared with laughter. Garnet, however, was both shocked and left out of breath by her mother's sudden forcefulness.   
  
Garnet stood and bowed. "If you please, I'd like to retire to freshen up a bit." Her heart fluttered and she wrung her hands with nervousness.  
  
"Of course! We must keep up appearances, don't we? BWAHAHA!" Brahne's comment was accompanied with another heavy slap on the back.  
  
Despite having the wind knocked out of her, Garnet's eyes glittered. "Yes, of course!" She kissed her mother's hand and, ignoring the accusatory glare Steiner gave her, she ran off the balcony and into her mother's sitting room.  
  
She quickly shut and bolted the door behind her. Steiner had seemed on edge lately. Well, ever since her father died. Garnet had never cared for the Pluto Knight Captain, and it seemed that wherever she went he was there, watching and following her. 'But I won't have to worry about that anymore now, will I?' Garnet grinned as she quickly got changed into an outfit she had hidden under her mother's pillow and rummaged through her mother's armoire for a set of sheets that the servants never put on Brahne's bed.   
  
"Here they are!" Garnet pulled a white sheet trimmed in red triangles out of a drawer with a flourish. Careful to make sure that her entire face was covered, she clasped the homemade cloak around her neck with the tie that held her braid in place. Checking herself in the mirror, she twirled and giggled. Before she could unlock the door, however, her conscience gripped her mind. She rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe I should write mother a note so she won't worry about me." She hastily grabbed a feather pen and a piece of parchment and wrote a haphazard letter.   
  
"There!" She signed her name with a flourish and let the pen fall to the floor. She gingerly unlocked the door. As she headed towards the grand staircase she could hear strains of music from the theatre area. 'They've started. No one should come looking for me now I hope.'  
  
She was nearly home free when she heard a strong voice addressing her.   
  
"Stop right there!" Garnet stopped in her tracks. She had been careless - too involved in her own thoughts and feelings to even notice the Pluto Knight was approaching to block her path. Desperate to try to manipulate her way out of the castle, she kept her head down so as not to risk her hood slipping off. She stared at the soldier's feet.   
  
"Excuse me..." Garnet tried to move past the knight, but he moved with her and blocked her path. Anger bubbled through her veins. No one had ever dared denied her what she wanted before. She raised her head in order to intimidate the knight with an icy stare, but jumped back when her eyes met his. Her brown eyes widened as she stared into his green ones, but she quickly shifted her gaze. It was the actor. 'I can't believe this...'  
  
Garnet quickly eyed him up and down; assuring herself that it was the same actor that had been looking at her earlier. The hair was the same as was the face and...the tail. There was no denying it. Garnet could feel her face heat in a crimson flush. "Um...Could you please let me pass?" Garnet glanced behind herself. 'This is taking too long! Any minute Steiner is going to march through that door and take me ba...' Her thoughts trailed off as she noticed the boy circling her.  
  
She noticed that he had not taken her eyes off of her. Her stomach fluttered and she could feel the blood pound in her ears. Pulling her hood in around her face, she turned to face him as he circled her. If it didn't stop soon, Garnet knew that she would faint dead away. She was already beginning to feel light-headed and spacey. "Is...is there something on my face?"  
  
The boy's eyes sparkled and he brushed a strand of dirty blond hair from his face. His smiled widened. "No, I just thought that maybe you were the one I've been waiting for all this time..." His voice trailed off and Garnet thought that perhaps she heard some longing in his voice, the same longing she thought she was feeling.  
  
She didn't have time for this. She swallowed her feelings in order to accomplish what she had been planning for so long. "Excuse me? You were waiting for me?" She almost wished that perhaps he had been waiting for her. He would wisk her away and take her with him and she would be free from what she was feeling in Alexandria. Garnet shook her head. 'This is ridiculous. Garnet you have definitely fallen too far this time.'  
  
He nodded his head in response, causing the stubborn strand of hair to fall back into his eyes. "Yeah...I've been waiting for you since I was born..." His own voice trailed off and had a dreamlike tone to it. Garnet felt her eyes close, but snapped them open quickly.  
  
"Do you mock me?" She stated, in a much more annoyed tone than she had meant.   
  
"Oh no, of course not!" He stepped toward Garnet, lessening the gap between them. Garnet drew in her breath. 'I have to get out of her...now. This knight is doing his job a little to well.' He circled her again and Garnet just stood waiting for those eyes to gaze into her own again. He came to face her again. "I'd never let someone as beautiful as you get away."  
  
Garnet's cheeks flushed and she lowered her head to stare at the floor. She gasped when she felt a finger beneath her chin lift her head again. She opened her eyes to come face to face with his green ones. "Say, you wouldn't want..." He began to talk to her and lessen the gap between their faces even more.  
  
"ZIDANE!" It sounded as if a stampede of horses was ascending the grand staircase. "Hey, what's going on...Zidane?" Garnet and Zidane jumped away from each other.   
  
Garnet's eyes widened as she saw another Pluto Knight approaching her. "I..." Garnet's eyes traveled from Zidane to the knight, lingering on Zidane. "I have to go!" Garnet sprinted down the stairs knocking both knights off their feet.  
  
She was vaguely aware of Zidane's scream. "Get up, Blank! That was Princess Garnet!"  
  
Garnet ran out of the palace, surprised at the absence of guards. She paused to catch her breath. 'So, he knew who I was. It was all a ploy to get me to go back.' She hung her head. 'You should've known better, Garnet.' Her head sprung up when she heard Zidane's voice.  
  
"There she is!"  
  
Garnet gasped and ran back into the castle eventually finding herself on the uppermost turret. She leaned over the edge of the parapet. Glancing back down the stairs, she saw the two knights ascending. She breathed deeply. 'Here goes nothing!'  
  
She shakily climbed on top of the parapet ledge. 'Don't look down...don't look down...don't....' She crouched down to balance herself and could not help but stare at the crowds of citizens gathered on the rooftops to catch a glimpse of the show. She stood and stared downwards. There had to be some way out of this mess...  
  
Garnet turned but found herself face to face with Zidane. She had two choices, jump or go with him and never have any freedom again. He held his arm out to her to help her down. She glanced past him and noticed the second knight waiting expectantly. Garnet imprinted Zidane's warm smile into her mind and jumped off the tower.   
  
She caught the string of flags as she had hoped she would and swung down onto the stage at the precise moment the curtain opened to begin the final scene. She glanced behind her to see the theatre ship not far in the distance. Turning, she ducked quickly to avoid Zidane from crashing into her.   
  
She tensed as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Princess, you have to come with me." Garnet turned quickly and came face to face with Steiner. She backed away from him and ran into a heavy set man dressed in regal robes.  
  
"Princess! I cannot allow you to marry Marcus! He is beneath your station!" the man bellowed. Garnet glanced around her in confusion, her eyes locking with Zidane's. He nodded. Garnet sighed and finished out the scene. Lord Ipsen, was, after all, her mother's favorite author.  
  
It seemed like forever, but the scene finally ended and Garnet was taken aboard the theatre ship. As it rose into the air, she heard the mechanical screeches of Alexandria's secret cannon rising from beneath the castle. She stared in horror as it was fired and the firebomb headed straight for them. The glanced down and noticed that they were above a forest.  
  
"Get down!" Garnet felt herself being pushed onto the deck of the ship. She recognized that voice...Zidane. She felt his body pressed ontop of her own. They were face to face with each other. She let him stay for a moment before she began struggling.  
  
"Unhand me! Get off!" she growled.  
  
"You sure are difficult to kidnap, do you know that?" Garnet glared at him as he grinned at her.  
  
"Kidnap?" Garnet did not understand. She had run away. And now this...boy was pinned on top of her... She blushed. 'Actually this isn't too bad...'  
  
The firebomb exploded and Garnet's vision went black.  
  
My picture clear  
Everything seemed so easy  
But then you dealt m the blow  
One of us had to go  
How you hurt me  
I want you to know  
  
"Zidane, you can't! He wouldn't care about us!" Garnet pleaded with Zidane as he marched off towards the Iifa tree. "Please!" she could feel the hot tears stinging at her eyes. 'Don't do this. You can't let him know you care. He's just a flirt...you can't show him...'  
  
"Dagger, I have to!" Zidane stopped and looked back at her. "It's something I have to do. I can't stand by and watch him destroy Gaia...and everyone I love." He smiled at her. Garnet felt herself grow light-headed as she did when they first met. "Goodbye, Dagger." He blew her a kiss as he stomped away.  
  
"ZIDANE!!!" Garnet collapsed on the ground and sobbed uncontrollably. "You...you can't! I can't..." She hiccupped and felt herself being supported by Steiner. "I love you, Zidane..." she offered helplessly and he helped her off the ground. Eiko, the youngest summoner, and Vivi, the adorable black mage sat next to her.  
  
"Don't worry he'll be back!" Eiko glanced towards the Iifa tree. "He will...won't he?"  
  
Vivi adjusted his straw hat. "Um...yeah..."  
  
Within moments, the Iifa tree was engulfed in flames and the Hilda Garde 3 flew towards Lindblum.  
  
One of us is crying  
One of us is lying  
In her lonely bed  
Staring at the ceiling  
Wishing she was somewhere else instead  
  
One of us is lonely  
One of us is only  
Waiting for a call  
Sorry for herself  
Feeling stupid  
Feeling small  
Wishing you had  
Never left at all  
  
Garnet wiped her face and carefully closed the door to the room behind her. Steiner and Beatrix were waiting for her. "Come, your highness, the show is just about to start." Beatrix said and, along with Steiner, escorted the young queen to her balcony seat in order to watch the play.   
  
"Beatrix, Steiner?" Garnet looked at them both. They waited expectantly for her orders. Garnet's smile widened. "Call me Dagger, please." Steiner nodded and Beatrix followed suit.   
  
When they finally made it to the balcony from which Garnet was going to watch the show, she walked to the ledge and looked at the citizens that had gathered on the rooftops of Alexandria to see the performance. They were happier than they had ever been. The city had been rebuilt and restored to twice its former glory.  
  
She smiled and carefully sat herself in the seat that had been provided for her. "Rusty..." Garnet looked back to the Pluto Knight Captain that she had grown closer to over the past year. He nodded, waiting for her to speak. "You know the last time this play was performed in Alexandria, something very special happened." Steiner nodded his agreement.  
  
Garnet settled into her chair and watched the curtain rise. "I think this performance might be just as special..."  



End file.
